Bah humbug from the P.A.

Once again, it is Ho-Ho-Horrible time for travelers and commuters making their way from New Jersey to New York. The Port Authority that stole Christmas is at again.

On Sunday, tolls at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Hudson River bridge and tunnel crossings were raised once again: 75 cents for passenger cars with E-ZPass, to $11.75, and $1 for cash customers, to $14. It was the fourth out of five annual increases planned in a bait-and-switch scheme first hatched by Govs. Chris Christie and Andrew Cuomo back in 2011. The original plan proposed raising the tolls by $4 in one fell swoop.

Then, just in the nick of time, the two governors said that they would halt the huge increase, and substitute instead five smaller annual increases, which would ultimately produce the same total hike. The Port Authority treated those who used the bridges and tunnels like the proverbial frog put in the pot of water that didn’t notice the gradual rise in temperature until it was too late.

We noticed. So do people who travel into New York by car. We notice every year the toll hikes kick in.

We also notice there is a lot of talk every year about reform at the Port Authority, but not enough talk about a reform that would require the agency to focus on its core mission — transportation — with an eye toward rolling back these outrageous increases. The Port Authority must stop spending huge sums on projects outside its transportation purview, such as the billions of dollars for reconstruction of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.

This most recent increase should at least give pause to those who believe it is time to raise the gasoline tax, particularly those who are already on the hook for tolls on the Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpikes.

The Port Authority toll hikes will cost an extra $240 a year for those who pay in cash, bringing the total cost of $3,360 a year. The annual total for discounted E-ZPass users will rise to $2,820.

Truckers, too, will feel the pinch. They will have to cough up an additional $12 for six-axle tractor trailers, bringing the new daily toll to $96 for truckers with E-ZPass, and $114 for those who pay cash. And who is going to pay for that toll hike? Consumers, in the form of pass-along costs.

The bottom line here is that the Port Authority must focus on its core mission — transportation — and realize that one effect of these outrageous tolls is to discourage transportation between the Garden State and the Empire State. And here at the holiday season, it is a shame that weekend family outings to New York City may well be beyond the means of many.

Such a sad situation is essentially caused by an agency acting the part of a bureaucratic Scrooge.